ABORIGINAL DESERT ART  GALLERY

LONG JACK PHILLIPUS TJAKAMARRA

Long Jack was born at Kalipimpa, north east of Kintore, in 1932. This place is considered an important Rain Dreaming site.

As a traditional Warlpiri man, Long Jack spent his earlier years in the bush country west of Mt Farewell. When he was a teenager, he and his family arrived and resided at Haasts Bluff. Long Jack found employment there, working as a timber contractor and also as a stockman.

He married Georgette Napaljarri and they have two sons, three daughters and a number of grandchildren. During the early 1970s, Long Jack had served as a Councillor at Papunya. Since those times, Long Jack had been involved in the Papunya painting movement. He and Billy Stockman jointly offered their help in painting some of the smaller murals around Papunya School. At this time, Billy Stockman was employed at the school site as a yardman. These early paintings prompted and ushered in to the wider art world the large Honey Ant Dreaming mural.

As a consequence of these early works the Aboriginal acrylic art movement was founded and Long Jack Phillipus is part of that history.

Long Jack paints the Wallaby, Kingfisher, Hare, Dingo and other Dreamings in the Mt Singleton area.

In 1984, Long Jack was ordained as a Lutheran Pastor. He lives in Papunya and is close to his kinship brother, Michael Jakamarra Nelson.

Long Jack is a devout and introspective person, creating compelling traditional Aboriginal images of remarkable spiritual intensity. He portrays his work with religious overtones and its symbolic references to the sanctity of his people and his culture.

Long Jack Phillipus has been painting for Michael Hollow Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery - Alice Springs - Melbourne - Sydney since 1995.

Prizes awarded to Long Jack include the NT Golden Jubilee Art Award, 1983. The Alice Springs Art Prize, 1984.

His younger sister Pauline Woods is a well-known Western Desert artist currently residing in Alice Springs.

Long Jack has works placed in the following collections:

Museums & Art Galleries of the Northern Territory,
Art Gallery of SA,
Art Gallery of WA,
Art Gallery of NSW,
University of WA Anthropology Museum,
Art Gallery of Victoria,
Michael Hollow collection,
Holmes à Court collection.

In this painting titled MANS DREAMING (Water dreaming )the artist shows us an very special ceremonial places within his country, ( near Lake Mc Kay ) the three concentric circles shown in this painting represent natural springs, water of course having a very special importance for the people of a desert environment.

Whilst the circles indicate water holes, these are natural springs and may be in use all year round, sometimes the water would have to be dug for, depending on the season and these sites are where water would be found. During the wet season the springs could turn into a number of tributary type creeks. The two long vertical sinuous lines represent lightning and the small double dotted lines depict lightning thunder and clouds which are associated with the rain.

The sinuous lines on the two sites of the painting show underground waterways, which are abundant underneath the harsh landscape of the Central Australian Desert, ultimately linking up together under the earth and forming the water basin.

The men shown in this painting are Tjupurulas and Tjakamarras.